Wow. That's all I can say.

Wow.

Okay, confession time. I have been amazed by this guy since high school. In college, my fascination grew. And now, my regard is almost without qualification. Without definition. I'm talking of him, not as a writer. Not as an actor. Producer. Director. Equestrian. University benefactor. Already words and titles enough to dub anyone as having attained the ideal of the renaissance man. No, I'm talking about the Singer. The recording artist. What's more, I'm talking about William Shatner. Yes. I said it. Confession time.

Farce? An early 70s experiment without the foreknowledge of just how fleeting the experimental latitude of the 70s were? High art? The most awful album in recording history? All of the above? The Transformed Man has provoked laughter, disdain, psychotic episodes and more sheer controversy than almost anything before or since. Music stores still don't know where to shelve it. Critics still wrack their brains for words not yet used to add to the mountain of scorn heaped upon the effort. But there it is.

What's more, in one of the most curious artistic resurrections of contemporary pop culture, Ben Folds combined his own fascination with action, pulled Shatner and his vision out of the asylum of the recording industry, and gave him another go. With an endorsement deal mocking/promoting his efforts, to boot. And I for one, can't stop listening. Well, I can all at once. But I'll play it again. Eventually. And today, ... today... I found a music video on iTunes Music Store for one of his more recent efforts, "It Hasn't Happened Yet." High art? Low farce? The cycle begins again....